TV
Review

While it's true that vampires don't age, the same can't be said for shows about vampires. True Blood, once a fleet-footed and hot-blooded gothic drama, hasn't aged gracefully. Ever since the first season, the show has been gradually shifting focus away from the relationship between the naïve, mind-reading half-fairy Sookie (Anna Paquin) and her two vampire suitors, gentlemanly Bill (Stephen Moyer) and rash ex-Viking Eric (Alexander Skarsgård), and to the affairs of a wide variety of other supernatural, often bland, entities. Sookie still pines for Bill, despite his villainous ascension to godhood in the show's sixth season, but she no longer anchors the series.

What should be this season's primary point of focus—the semi-official war on vampires that's been declared by Louisiana's new fascistic governor, Truman Burrell (Arliss Howard)—too often takes a backseat to the further misadventures of characters like Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), who, after trying to save his girlfriend's werewolf daughter from vampires last season, is now...trying to save the little girl from an unruly clan of werewolves, tentatively led by Alcide (Joe Manganiello). The only real connection these two characters have to Sookie is that Sam's her boss—though even Arlene (Carrie Preston) notes that she never shows up for work anymore—and that she once had a brief fling with Alcide. But because True Blood is both afraid to kill off main characters and unable to stop checking in on everybody, we get a kaleidoscopic series of scenes that are only vaguely related in theme.

Even the more interesting material is bogged down by the writing's inert pacing: Bill spends an episode almost entirely in a coma, internally processing his newfound powers, and Sookie, under the direction of her kooky fairy grandfather, Niall (Rutger Hauer), channels balls of light as if she's auditioning for a part in The Last Airbender. Rather than strike back against the humans who've raided her bar, Eric's second-in-command, Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten), and her recently sired lover, Tara (Rutina Wesley), spend their time drinking and weeping bloody tears, without a hint of their former menace and charm.

The first few episodes of the season barely cover more than a day's worth of plot, and it's not because the series is drawing out the rich essences of each character, but because there are too many stories, none of which are likely to be resolved before the end of the season. Furthermore, because so much supernatural lore has already been explained, nothing seems fresh; the human armed forces' UV-emitting silver bullets are similar to those used by last season's vampire Authority, and though this season's evil vampire, Warlow, has yet to reveal himself, it becomes clear he's after the same thing every other Big Bad on the series has sought: Sookie. Even the future that Bill is now able to see—in which all of his friends are immolated—is more of the same.

What little subtlety there was to the portrayal of vampires as stand-ins for minority groups in the early seasons of True Blood has been lost, particularly now that Alan Ball has stepped down as showrunner (and it says something that his replacement, Mark Hudis, stepped down in the middle of this season). Supernatural sympathizer Nicole (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) spends two episodes comparing the governor's new violent and discriminatory anti-vampire policies to those of Southern racists and the Nazi party as she attempts to convince Sam and Alcide to "out" themselves before it's too late to fight back (she all but quotes the famous poem "First They Came..."), and a religious zealot (Anna Camp) explains, just before giddily torturing a vampire, that "If you really want to do God's work, you've got to be in politics."

Even the visuals have lost much of their appeal: The show's authentic Louisiana vibe has long been replaced by generic interiors and whatever's-in-the-closet costuming, and the once-suspenseful cliffhangers are now just feeble fades to black. Even when the series manages to remain steamy, with a long finger-sucking sequence between Eric and his human captive (Amelia Rose-Blaire), who's trying to seduce him, it's hard not to be distracted by the fact that the coffin they're sharing looks like something out of a discount Halloween store. The sight of naked women covered in blood was once simultaneously shocking and titillating, but it's now become routine. The freshest thing in Bon Temps is Niall's eccentric behavior and outfits, but even that's far from original, since it feels as if it's been lifted straight out of The Addams Family.

Skin-deep romance and violence are easy; that's what network soaps and crime shows are all about. True Blood, which once sank its teeth into the costs of vampirism—regenerating hymens, religious persecution, the in-some-cases thin line between having a maker and a master—has now grown long in the tooth, content to simply glamour its audience with cheap and bloody theatrics, a lot of drawn-out posturing from its over-the-top villains and copious shirtless supernaturals. Unwilling to really shake things up, the writers have instead drained the life out of their own series, and what's left is merely a desiccated reminder of something that was once entertaining.

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Thanks, sorry. I understood. I was adding to your comment, not contesting it. (though I would argue that GoT is far superior in every way.)

Yeah, it's hard, once you've committed to a show, to walk away. I keep waiting for that moment - the great scene, the moment of connection - that will make it worthwhile. But kind of like a bad boyfriend who was awesome when you first dated, sometimes you just have to stop answering the calls. :)

Posted by Lynn Pounian on 2013-07-24 17:52:23

I wasn't saying it takes a big budget to write a good script, I was just explaining why the budget has been down. I personally thought last season, and even the season before were much worse. But hey, more power to you. It annoys me when people continue to watch things that they clearly hate everything about, I don't care if they've invested the time.

Posted by Nick L Lopez on 2013-07-24 17:10:45

It doesn't take a big budget to write a good script. And you can't act your way out of a bad one.

The story lines have been awful. There's not even entertainment value in hate watching. It's so boorish and boring, the true death sounds like a bargain. So finally, this last episode, I just turned it off in mid bite. That's it for me.

Posted by Lynn Pounian on 2013-07-24 13:30:10

Pam having horrible lines? I have to see it to beleive it. I like Carrie Preston, but she has been worthless on this show for awhile now. As far as the plain visuals go, Ball pretty much said the budget hasn't been good for the show lately. So despite all the money the show makes for HBO, most of it seems to go to Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire.

Posted by Nick L Lopez on 2013-06-13 12:57:51

What's Jessica Rabbit's famous line? "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way"? Pam could never be intolerable; she's just been given horrible lines thus far. By the way, have you no love for Carrie Preston? Also, amid all the wreckage of Season Six so far, Skarsgard at least appears to be having fun.

Posted by Aaron Riccio on 2013-06-13 01:11:44

Doesn't sound promising at all. I'm assuming these were the first three episodes helmed by the now fired Mark Hudis. I knew he would suck given that he joined during the fourth season. It sounds like you weren't thrilled for anything, even Pam. She's always been the one thing I've always enjoyed, but it sounds like they finally made her intolerable. I hope not.